...Now we see Norton and BSA being resurrected by Indian companies.The articles suggest that Norton & BSA will both be constructed in England.
Is India in the new normal in the motorcycle industry?
The articles suggest that Norton & BSA will both be constructed in England.
Not sure if that will help them compete with RE.
Wasn't the last Norton $29,000?...Yipes!
Mahindra done a great job with the jawa so why not the BSA. Good on em. Any brand that get kids on 2 wheels is good. Some great videos on youtube regarding the new Norton brand including with the new CEO
maybe they will look like this little ripper ...
(https://webbikeworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/88Norton-Classic-Rotary-R.jpg)
The only real advantage of making bikes in Britain was access to the EU.
Post Brexit it makes far more sense to move that sort of thing off shore. India at least was part of the Empire and has a strong British tradition dating back to the days of the Raj. At least they are not moving to Bulgaria or Peru.
The articles suggest that Norton & BSA will both be constructed in England.They did start off making the 'new' Nortons in England. They seemed really good bikes but were made to order and really expensive - made Triumphs look cheap! Unfortunately there were some very shady business dealings going on behind the scenes and basically they had no money and went out of business before having and Indian company buy out all the production rights. Last I heard was that limited production was supposed to be starting soon in yet another new factory in the UK....
Not sure if that will help them compete with RE.
Wasn't the last Norton $29,000?...Yipes!
Wow. That's the first picture I've ever seen of that bike. Very unusual look to that engine.
Those photos of the Balkan motorcycles sure look a lot like 1950's and 1960's Jawas to me.
WHAT!!! The car that conquered Africa? It was the best there was when it was all there was... ;D
Land Rovers had a tendency to break their leaf springs, it was common to see one used for rough service to have an extra bolted to the front bumper.
As for British built conveyances it is pure nostalgia for me. My teen years spanned the late 60's and early 70's when my motorcycle lust was at a fever pitch. In the States that meant choices of Japanese, American or British bikes. Honda's were viewed as a stepping stone to a "real" motorcycle which meant British or American bikes to the kids I hung out with and we all gravitated to British as Harley's Sportsters could be very hard to start and didn't quite fit our long haired pot smoking value system, at least not until Easy Rider came out in 69. Greasers rode Harleys we had to have British. Bob Dylan rode a Triumph, so did Arlo Guthrie and Mike Nesmith, Steve McQueen too so there was that strong adolescent need for image and cultural alignment with your value system that brought you to the motorcycle you rode regardless of its true mechanical merits. A well known photograph from Woodstock has a Triumph parked in a sea of concert goers, you knew the Harley riders were parked up the road harassing and beating up hippies, such was the cultural divide at that time. I've never lost my love for the old stuff and regardless of what I'm currently riding I have a need for something old and British in the garage as a touchstone to an innocent and simpler time in my life. You can't go back again but depending on what you are riding you can still get a glimpse of it in your rear view mirror.
Royal Enfield is an old story with Indian ownership being its savior. Now we see Norton and BSA being resurrected by Indian companies.
Is India in the new normal in the motorcycle industry?
https://www.zigwheels.com/news-features/general-news/bsa-motorcycles-to-make-a-comeback-company-teases-launch-on-social-media/43972/
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-10190635/New-Norton-Motorcycles-HQ-opens.html
Sounds like your early history is similar to mine, but it sounds like maybe you're 10 or so years younger than I. I'm 83 & was 18 in 1956.
I was solidly imprinted on harleys from 11 years old on in 1949, but also spent hundreds of hours during those young years staring at dozens of brochures of foreign bikes and scooters that I ordered from Popular Mechanics & Mechanics Illustrated.
Dylan also owned a harley before he owned the Triumph. He sold it when he left Hibbing. I have also read somewhere that he owned another harley for a time while he was living in some southern state, I believe, to record an album at a particular recording studio. I can't recall now which album that was.
Dylan also wrote a bare bones few lines of The River Flows & gave it to Fonda telling him to give it to Roger McGuinn who would "know what to do with it. The song that McGuinn wrote was the last song in the movie where the camera pulls up & away from Wyatt's bike burning in the field. Dylan had some kind of kerfuffle with Fonda for using his name in the credits without his permission.
India is doing some cool stuff with bikes. It's great if they want to rescue the British classics.
India is doing some cool stuff with bikes. It's great if they want to rescue the British classics.
An Indian bike with a rebirthed brand on the tank is no more the real thing than a crappy Chinese hatchback is a real MG, no matter what the badge on the bootlid says.
How is a Triumph made in Thailand or Harley Davidson from Brazil or India any different ?I didn't say it was any different. But seeing you ask, I do think it's different because there's continuity. It's the same company, making products in different places. Just because you move house, doesn't make you a different family. But paying money for a title in Scotland doesn't make you a real lord, either.
They're not rescuing anything. They're cashing in on another country's heritage and claiming it for their own.The British were in India for what, almost 300 years? India was the crown jewel in the British empire. The histories and cultures of Britain and India are deeply interwoven, and that was true long before someone put the first motor on a bicycle.
The British were in India for what, almost 300 years? India was the crown jewel in the British empire. The histories and cultures of Britain and India are deeply interwoven, and that was true long before someone put the first motor on a bicycle.
It's completely appropriate to see Indian ingenuity breathing life into the British classics.
The British were in India for what, almost 300 years? India was the crown jewel in the British empire. The histories and cultures of Britain and India are deeply interwoven, and that was true long before someone put the first motor on a bicycle.I completely agree. RE is a great example. The IB, then the AVL and UCE have been made in India since what, 1956ish? when the tooling was sent from RE in England to India. They've been at it ever since. They actually did breath life back into a British classic and have done a great job.
It's completely appropriate to see Indian ingenuity breathing life into the British classics.
...Particularly as Chicken Tikka Masala or Chicken Curry has more or less become the national dish of England.